The blotched snakehead (''Channa maculata'') is a species of snakehead. It is one of four species of the genus ''

Channa ''Channa'' is a genus of predatory fish in the family Channidae, commonly known as snakeheads, native to freshwater habitats in Asia. This genus contains about 50 scientifically described species. The genus has a wide natural distribution extend ...

'' native to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. It is also to native northern

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

and

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

, but has been widely introduced to other countries, where it is an

invasive species An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...

. This predatory species typically grows to a length of ,SeriouslyFish:
Channa maculata.
' Retrieved 27 June 2014. but it has been confirmed at and some suggest it may reach a far larger size.

References

Blotched snakehead The blotched snakehead (''Channa maculata'') is a species of Channidae, snakehead. It is one of four species of the genus ''Channa'' native to China. It is also to native northern Vietnam and Taiwan, but has been widely introduced to other countr ...

Fish of East Asia Fish described in 1801 {{anabantiformes-stub